Countdown to Brazil: Part 6 – FIFA World Cup 1998
The joy of lifting the Word Cup trophy in front of home support has been enjoyed on 6 occasions since the start of the tournament. The 1998 FIFA World Cup has been…
The Great American Soccer World Cup
It’s almost upon us. Five days from today, the most eagerly-anticipated event in the history of sports will commence. This event is often credited with uniting the whole world in peace and…
Countdown to Brazil: Part 5 – FIFA World Cup 1994
One of the worst outcomes of the FIFA World Cup 1994 was the effect it had on Roberto Baggio. For a player of his talent, people now remember the pony-tailed Italian for ‘his…
Countdown to Brazil: Part 4 – FIFA World Cup 1990
Defending champions, especially when they’re led by the world’s best player, are often expected to storm past minnows. They’re supposed to use the group games as warm up for the knockouts and…
Countdown to Brazil: Part 3 – FIFA World Cup 1986
A football player’s career can at times be condensed and often, encapsulated in one defining moment; a moment of sheer brilliance, or absolute madness. Great players often go down in history books…
Countdown to Brazil: Part 2 – FIFA World Cup 1982
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily lives off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso There are good teams at a World Cup, there are winners who’re remembered and revered…
Countdown to Brazil: Part 1 – FIFA World Cup 1978
“With what I know now, I can’t say I’m proud of my victory. But I didn’t realise; most of us didn’t. We just played football. In hindsight, we should never have played…
The quest for La Decima via Equilibrio
“Equilibrio” That one word was ever present in Carlo Ancelotti’s press conferences since he signed up to be Madrid’s coach. It was also the one thing that Mou-drid lacked. For all of…
In defence of Tiki Taka
Chelsea and Bayern Munich lost their respective Champions League semi-finals. They did not just lose, but rather both teams were comprehensively out-played and beaten comfortably. On the tactical spectrum, Mourinho and Pep…
Olivier Giroud: Part Deux
(All statistics in this piece are from WhoScored and Squawka.) Over a year ago, I wrote ‘Olivier Giroud: A bit more than what meets the eye’ for Football Paradise. The Frenchman has…
Ryan Giggs: Holding you Together, since ’91
This article is not about the number of games he played, or the goals he scored or any other statistic. You can find them very easily on Google. But that will not…
Barca – Més que un club en problems
2013 was supposed to a year of revolution at Barcelona. With the now late Tito Vilanova unable to continue, the club were going to appoint a manager for the first time…
…She said it’s for The Arsenal, And we’re going to Wembley!
Securing victory in 5 consecutive matches takes you to the final and 6 victories wins you the trophy. That is the glamour of the FA Cup. Practically every professional team in England…
Walk on with hope in your heart
There are multiple ways to play football. There are multiple systems which work as frameworks for teams to promulgate a club’s, it’s locality’s and a country’s cultural heritage – simply by the…
ó, aqueles dias!
Confederations Cup final, 2013. Brazil vs Spain. Neymar gave one of his best performances till date and guided the home nation to a rather fantastic 3-0 victory. Saying that Gerard Pique and…
Schizophrenic Arsenal
What has this season come to? It’s a rhetoric question and I don’t know the answer to it myself. Every devoted supporter feels an immense pain when their club gets knocked about…
I’m a United fan and I’m not a Plastic!
“My Name is Khan, and I’m not a terrorist.” Yes, I’ve clearly plagiarised this and modified it into my article title. Congratulations on your genius, if you screamed “Aha!” as soon as…
The legend of Carles Puyol
The year is 2009. The venue is the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Cristiano Ronaldo, the Ballon D’Or winner, is looking to the skies for divine inspiration as Leo Messi, perhaps the shortest…
Demichelis, City’s achilles
As the ball bounced towards the byline in the 25th minute of the F.A Cup encounter between Wigan and Manchester City, Marc Antoine Fortune probably saw Martin Demichelis close in on his…
Little Mozart continues to orchestrate
English commentators are bound to look at another few years of struggling to pronounce Tomas Rosicky’s name correctly with the 33-year-old midfielder signing a new contract with Arsenal in the past week…
Terry-fic : Part Deux
We’re 10 games from the end of the Premier League, but it’s still impossible to predict who will win. Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool all have realistic chances of taking the no.1…
How Will History Treat Monsieur Rooney?
So, Wayne Rooney has put pen to paper and signed a contract till 2019, and in all probability, with the revelation that he will be a club ambassador once he retires, he…
You’re not that important
Jordan Brian Henderson. In the summer of 2012, Jordan Henderson was offered to Fulham in a last ditch attempt by Liverpool to land Clint Dempsey. An year after what would be a…
FA Cup: Arsenal 2 – 1 Liverpool
“For me, one of the highlights of yesterday’s game was the unanimous chanting of Sir Tom Finney’s name by both the Arsenal and Liverpool fans. Most of these fans have never seen…